


Three Taps Means I Love You

by jabedalien



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: I don't even have anything to tag, M/M, One Shot, just Jabed being cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24949375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jabedalien/pseuds/jabedalien
Summary: Alternatively titled: How many Jabed headcanons can i fit in 869 words??
Relationships: Abed Nadir/Jeff Winger
Comments: 17
Kudos: 85





	Three Taps Means I Love You

**Author's Note:**

> hey guyssss here yet again with more Jabed. i really love this concept and it so seems like the kind of thing they would do and it didnt fit in any of my longer stuff for them so i felt like it deserved its own lil thing so here it is!!

Jeff wasn’t sure exactly where he heard it for the first time, he figured he’d probably just read it on the internet somewhere, but one night, laying in bed, he tapped three times on Abed’s chest with his pointer finger, gentle but deliberate. Afterwards Abed turned to him and raised his eyebrows in question.

Suddenly Jeff felt weird about having done it. “It means ‘I love you’. Or something. I don’t know.” They’d said the words to each other before, but it was a rare enough occurrence that it still felt kind of foreign in Jeff’s mouth.

“Cool.” Abed said, smiling a little. He found Jeff’s hand under the covers and grabbed it in his, tapping the back of it three times.

It seemed like Abed had taken to the idea, because from then on Jeff got a little _tap, tap, tap_ wherever they went.

He started doing it when he needed to get Jeff’s attention, just three taps on his shoulder. When the group was studying in relative silence he’d hear Abed click his pen three times in a row, looking over at him for a split second before getting back to his notes. They’d be sitting together watching tv, neither of them having spoken for an hour or two, and Abed would give him three taps on the knee. He’d knock on Jeff’s apartment door three times when he showed up there.

Jeff started to get into the habit of it too, reaching his foot over and tapping Abed’s shoe during class. Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel while they were in the car together. He’d subtly reach over and tap the side of Abed’s leg when they stood next to each other. Three taps every time he made Abed laugh. Three more when Abed made him laugh.

It was like a little game, and it was nice to catch the other by surprise with it every once in a while, like how Abed would do it against his back while he was ordering coffee, or Jeff would wake Abed up with it when he fell asleep at his place.

“Why do you always do that?” Annie asked once, while they were sitting together on the couch in the study room. It had been a long day, but now they were just sitting there, half talking and mostly going back and forth tapping each other.

“Do what?” Abed asked.

“The tapping thing. I don’t know, I just see you two doing it sometimes.”

“Jeff told me it means I love you” Abed said, tapping a finger to Jeff’s arm for each word.

Annie’s eyes widened and she put on her Disney face. “Oh my _god_ that is the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard!” She squealed. Jeff was happy to see her turn and leave without interrogating them on it any further. Hearing her reaction to it made it feel far too sappy for Jeff's taste, even though he figured it was pretty sappy.

When she was out the door he looked over at Abed. “Honestly, why do we do it so much?” Jeff asked.

“I like being able to tell you I love you without having to say the words.” Abed said, still tapping while he talked. “Sometimes they get caught in my throat, you know?”

A lot of times they were in the middle of something else, or in public, or it just didn’t feel like the right context, which Abed always ended up overanalyzing. The tapping was fast, mindless, it didn’t take any context and no response was needed other than a tap back or a silent recognition of it.

In his mind it had started to take on a language of its own eventually. It said “I know you’re busy right now but I want you to listen to me” or “I’d rather be hanging out with you than studying” or “Thanks for watching this with me and not caring that I haven’t said a word the whole time”.

“I guess it’s the same for me.” Jeff said, looking down at Abed’s leg instead of his face and tapping his thigh.

Jeff had always felt like somewhere inside him he was assigned a certain limit to how many times he could say “I love you”. That there was a small reserve of love in his heart and he could deplete it on Abed or anyone else if he wasn’t careful, didn’t save the phrase for only the most important moments. Of course he knew it wasn’t really true, but it didn’t stop him from thinking if he told Abed he loved him too many times the words would stop meaning anything, and worse, Abed would stop believing them.

Abed looked at Jeff, tilting his head like he was considering something before leaning in and kissing him. His hand rested on Jeff’s face and he tapped his finger three times against his cheek. Abed could feel Jeff smiling into the kiss as he reached his hand to Abed’s side and tapped three times there in response. 

"I love you." Abed whispered, pulling away just enough to say the words. 

"I love you too." Jeff grinned, and the words didn't seem stuck at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a warning I've got a new tumblr user!! I'm jabedalien on there now because i needed a change and also because i live to serve the tiny Jabed army. If you guys have any oneshot ideas you already KNOW i will write them in a second


End file.
